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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Hello all...hopefully I haven't been gone so long that you have totally forgotten me! It has been about a year since I have blogged, and even then I wasn't doing it more than once a month or so. As some of you know, I left the wonderful Art Jewelry Elements blog about a year ago due to some challenges in my personal life. Not only did I stop blogging, but pretty much stopped creating during that time, aside from a few sporadic spurts here and there. Sometimes I feel like my previous creative spark is gone forever. I hope not! I know I need to put myself out there again and keep trying. That is why I decided to join the latest AJE challenge...Art Headpins!

I love art headpins! They are fun and versatile, not to mention gorgeous! I stuck with earrings on this challenge, mostly because all the headpins I have to work with came in pairs! I created three pair!

Friday, August 7, 2015

Last week I posted about my Art Jewelry Elements Component of the Month for July, but I ran into some complications! I had to redo my bezel, and just didn't get finished. Well, I had hope to work on it over the weekend, but that didn't come into fruition, so I picked it back up this week.

Fast forward, I not only ruined the 1st bezel attempt, while trying to solder on the connector rings on this one, totally melted the silver bezel again! Note to self...attach copper connector rings first, since they need much more heat than the fragile fine silver bezel! Duh!

Anyway, I finally got it done and am really pleased with it! I textured the backplate and ditched the little silver balls...too fussy, I think.

I love Niky's farthing clasp right next to Sue's big flower cab!

You can really see the iridescence of Sue's beads in this light!

I curved the connectors slightly so it would lay on the wrist better!

This beauty is already listed in my shop! Hey, did you know I was offering 30% off everything in my shop? We have had a hard summer financially...healthcare costs and just blew our rear wheel cylinder on our main vehicle and had to spend money out the wazoo to fix! Now, school is about to start and those back-to-school supplies are killer! Use coupon code BRAKES30 at checkout for a limited time. I am going through and listing other inventory that has never seen the light of day, so keep checking back!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

Hello all! Long time, no see! It is time for the July 2015 installment of Art Jewelry Element's Component of the Month Challenge. For new readers, or those who need to be reminded, every few months, one of the AJE team members offers one of their handmade components to the rest of the design team, plus does a giveaway to lucky readers who leave a comment! On the last day of the month, we reveal what we created with said lovely component!

Farthing coin components by Niky Sayers...beads and clasps!

This month, Niky Sayers presented us with amazing components created from English farthing coins! Mine was cleverly turned into a clasp! I love it!

The clasp I received from Niky! So sweet!

I decided to use some artisan lampwork beads from the sweet and talented Sue Kennedy of SueBeads. I love this glass...it has a sheen that reminds me of an oil slick!

Gorgeous beads by Sue Kennedy!

My intent was to bezel-set the cab and create a bracelet using Niky's sweet clasp. I thought, "I got this", then proceeded to procrastinate, then get bogged down with the silly, simple soldered bezel, then my brakes went out on my car last night after work, then......well, you know the rest.

This is how far I got!

The rings will be soldered to the back for connectors, the little balls are meant for bezel embellishment, and the lopsided dapped copper circles will be bead caps (maybe). That is as far as I got! I intend to complete it this weekend, so stay tuned!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

May's component of the month features Sue Kennedy of SueBeads. She is one of all time favorite lampwork artists and I have many of her lovely beads, but this month she went in a different direction and offered us her gorgeous beaded beads!

A gorgeous pile of beaded beads!

The ones I got! Love those colors :)

I was going to not do earrings just because she sent a pair, but I had technical difficulties while working on the necklace design I had in mind, so at the last minute, I said why fight it!

I paired these beauties with another pair of beauties by Sue...her flower stamped beads! I love these beads and I have gotten several colors in the round and her chicklet style.

I added some golden yellow Czech glass lentil and flowers to bring out those colors in the beaded beads.

This shows how the little lentil beads will hang when worn.

Another view in outside light!

These are long, not quite shoulder sweepers, but they definitely make a statement and I think would be perfect for summer! I will put them in my shop later today!

Thanks for stopping by...I hope you go visit the rest of this month's design team!

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Welcome to the 1st ever Art Jewelry Elements Themed Challenge! We decided to take a little break from our monthly component challenge and add a quarterly theme that wouldn't necessarily entail using a specific component in a piece of jewelry or other handmade item, but actually encourage and inspire the creation of art based on that theme. This first challenge was chosen by our talented team mate, Jenny Davies-Reazor...the March hare! She wrote a great post, here, sharing her inspiration behind her choice!

I wasn't sure how I would participate in this one...I could always purchase one of the gorgeous pieces my team mates created, and make a piece of jewelry. I decided, though, that I would create some art components myself to add to my Melismatic Morsel repertoire. I decided to go with mixed-media, resin-filled components.

I found some sweet little digital "inchies" of bunnies and hares on Etsy...check out the shop here! I set out to create some bezels to add the images and resin to.

I started with copper sheet, and decided to cut flower shapes, but they are also very cloud-like! I flooded the copper with lead-free plumber's solder, similar to my molten morsels, then embedded bezels I formed from copper bezel wire. After layering the images, I filled them in with ICE resin. These need another layer of resin so they dome a bit better, but I am a bit behind. I left connector holes off, so they can be punched or drilled where ever you wish!

I thought this was it, but a few days ago, I got a wild hare (sorry!) and thought I would try a couple with polymer clay...I love Jenny's cool mixed-media pieces with resin and polymer and asked her if I could try, and she said "go for it"!

I did about 4 of them, but these are the 2 that I felt really worked. They still need a bit of clean-up and maybe some more color. The hare images are just sitting in these. Will add the resin later.

Go and see all the other hares and bunnies jumping around the internets! Thanks, Jenny, for the inspiration!

I chose to make a pair of earrings with a couple sets of my left over components in white copper. I used larger circles that were stamped with the very center of the carving, and small circles stamped from the swirl. I connected them with Czech glass flower beads in a pretty cornflower blue shade, then added sterling ear wires that have been embellished with more Czech glass.

I hope you will go and show some love to those who have created designs using them! Here are the participants.

Friday, January 30, 2015

or "Use your Stash" as this month's host, Jenny Davies-Reazor coined! It was decided that after the chaos and hubbub of the holidays was over, rather than have one person create a COM to share, we would dig around in our stash and find treasure that has been hoarded away and create something from it.

In my totally characteristic way, nothing I created is completely finished! I have started some very cool things however, and have ideas for others.

This necklace features a gorgeous focal heart by Sue Kennedy...I have to say, this wasn't from a hoarded stash, I just got it from her after coveting it for a while! The matching bead in the flower was, though, as well as the purple flower bead by Karen Totten. This obviously needs a clasp, patina and possibly other tweaking!

Here is a really cool ceramic focal by Jenny Davies-Reazor. I dangled it beneath an old key I had and used some wire-wrapped jasper as a chain. That's my copper metal clay hanging on the bottom. Needs a clasp, patina and something else wrapped on the key, I think!

Tiny fold-formed copper leaves, embellished with sweet heart headpins by Jennifer Cameron! Perfect for the season and surprsingly, complete!

Fun ceramic charms by Linda Landig are embellished with enamel cups by me and some Czech glass. I need to patina the shiny sterling!

So, those were the pieces even close to being finished. I have so many more things I wanted to create with components from my AJE team, but there just wasn't enough time. I am going to give you a peek at what is up next on my plate, though...

These are gorgeous pieces by Diana Ptaszynski that are somehow going to turn into a fabulous necklace!

These colorful Czech glass beads are going to be added to different lengths of chain and bundled together to dangle beneath Lesley Watt's sweet bronze flower cap!

Sweet woodsy owl here by Karen Totten is going to be a necklace, perhaps with a copper armature surrounding him!

It has been really fun and inspiring to use these "hoarded" treasures! Here is a list of others that participated in the challenge. Make sure to stop by their blogs and say hi.